Sounds Quotes

“To hear never-heard sounds,
To see never-seen colors and shapes,
To try to understand the imperceptible
Power pervading the world;
To fly and find pure ethereal substances
That are not of matter
But of that invisible soul pervading reality.
To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul;
To be a lantern in the darkness
Or an umbrella in a stormy day;
To feel much more than know.
To be the eyes of an eagle, slope of a mountain;
To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon;
To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves;
To be an insignificant pedestrian on the streets
Of crazy cities watching, watching, and watching.
To be a smile on the face of a woman
And shine in her memory
As a moment saved without planning.”
― Dejan Stojanovic

“MOTHER IS WATER

I wish I could
Shower your head with flowers
And anoint your feet with my tears,
For I know I have caused you
So much heartache, frustration and despair –
Throughout my youthful years.
I wish I could give you
The remainder of my life
To add to yours,
Or simply erase
The lines on your face,
And mend all that has been torn.
For next to God,
You are the fire
That has given light
To the flame in each of my eyes.
You are the fountain
That nourished my growth,
And from your chalice –
Gave me life.
Without the wetness of your love,
The fragrance of your water,
Or the trickling sounds of
Your voice,
I shall always feel
thirsty.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Love is like a musical score, sometimes very tuneful, creating a harmony of sounds, sometimes extremely harsh, striking a hell of false notes. (“Love lying fallow “)”
― Erik Pevernagie

“Let us drop our 'tin ear' and listen to the sounds of the 'real' world veiled beyond our inattention, and overwhelmed by the smoke and mirrors of superficiality. ("Like a frozen image")”
― Erik Pevernagie

“If we put the sterile mechanism of our brain on hold, we can view an ocean of enticing eye-opening perspectives. Life offers us an array of choices allowing us to discover a spray of overpowering colors, and hear overwhelming new sounds, and smell the intense fragrances of nature. ("The final decision" )”
― Erik Pevernagie

“Since there is no real silence,
Silence will contain all the sounds,
All the words, all the languages,
All knowledge, all memory.”
― Dejan Stojanovic

“There is no competition of sounds between a nightingale and a violin.”
― Dejan Stojanovic

“But there were too many points at which the other self could invade the self he wanted to preserve, and there were too many forms of invasion: certain words, sounds, lights, actions his hands or feet performed, and if he did nothing at all, heard and saw nothing, the shouting of some triumphant inner voice that shocked him and cowed him.”
― Patricia Highsmith, Strangers on a Train

“In every sound, the hidden silence sleeps.”
― Dejan Stojanovic, The Creator

“Be music always. Keep changing the keys, tones, pitch, and volume of each of the songs you create along your life's journey and play on.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

“Now, remember: they're not for eating, but for listening, because you'll often be hungry for sounds as well as food. Here are street noises at night, train whistles from a long way off, dry leaves burning, busy department stores, crunching toast, creaking bed springs, and of course, all kinds of laughter. There's a little of each, and in far off, lonely places, I think you will be glad to have them.”
― Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth

“Who are you? What’s your name?”
“Mi Mi.”
“Do you hear that thumping noise?”
“No.”
“It must be here somewhere.” Tin Win knelt down. Now it was nearly next to his ear. “I hear it more and more distinctly. A soft pulsing. You really don’t hear it?”
“No.”
“Close your eyes.”
Mi Mi closed her eyes. “Nothing,” she said, and laughed. Tin Win leaned over and felt her breath on his face. “I think it’s coming from you.” He crept closer to her and held his head just in front of her chest.
There it was. Her heartbeat.”
― Jan-Philipp Sendker, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

“In an endless silence even screams sound silent.”
― Dejan Stojanovic, The Creator

“Song of myself
Now I will do nothing but listen,
To accrue what I hear into this song, to let sounds contribute toward it.

I hear bravuras of birds, bustle of growing wheat, gossip of flames,
clack of sticks cooking my meals,
I hear the sound I love, the sound of the human voice,
I hear all sounds running together, combined, fused or following,
Sounds of the city and sounds out of the city, sounds of the day and night,
Talkative young ones to those that like them, the loud laugh of
work-people at their meals,
The angry base of disjointed friendship, the faint tones of the sick,
The judge with hands tight to the desk, his pallid lips pronouncing
a death-sentence,
The heave'e'yo of stevedores unlading ships by the wharves, the
refrain of the anchor-lifters,
The ring of alarm-bells, the cry of fire, the whirr of swift-streaking
engines and hose-carts with premonitory tinkles and color'd lights,
The steam-whistle, the solid roll of the train of approaching cars,
The slow march play'd at the head of the association marching two and two,
(They go to guard some corpse, the flag-tops are draped with black muslin.)

I hear the violoncello, ('tis the young man's heart's complaint,)
I hear the key'd cornet, it glides quickly in through my ears,
It shakes mad-sweet pangs through my belly and breast.

I hear the chorus, it is a grand opera,
Ah this indeed is music--this suits me.”
― Walt Whitman

“Sound unbound by nature becomes bounded by art.”
― Dejan Stojanovic

“I had once been splintered into a million beings and objects. Today I am one, tomorrow I shall splinter again. And thus everything in the world decants and modulates. That day I was on the crest of a wave. I knew that all my surroundings were notes of one and the same harmony, knew - secretly - the source and the inevitable resolution of the sounds assembled for an instant, and the new chord that would be engendered by each of the dispersing notes. My soul's musical ear knew and comprehended everything.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov

“Sometimes I wait at the bottom of those dark stairs, I sit at the bottom of the stairs, I wait beyond the bottom of the stairs and listen to the sounds my wife and children make as they sleep, the sounds our animals make as they step carefully through our dreams and out the other side to polished floor and cold window. Sometimes I wait so long I become unsure if I am asleep, or awake, or dead.”
― Steve Rasnic Tem, The Man on the Ceiling

“I was just thinking how the purr of a contented cat is one of my favorite sounds in the world. There's something so comforting about it, isn't there?”
― Laura Lam, Shadowplay

“But Little Sunshine stayed on; it was his rightful home, he said, for if he went away, as he had once upon a time, other voices, other rooms, voices lost and clouded, strummed his dreams.”
― Truman Capote, Other Voices, Other Rooms

“A versifier passes through the sound; sounds go through a poet.”
― Dejan Stojanovic, Serbian Satire and Aphorisms

“You may be gone, yet here you are found,
in the roses, in each morning, every new sound,
since reminds me everything of us,
“I love you…” I would say to you out loud - this I trust…”
― Will Advise, На чист Български...: Pristine Bulgarian sayings...

“Quality of education and employment is like a politician's promise—sounds amazing during the campaign, but once elected, it vanishes into thin air, leaving us with a circus full of clowns juggling our dimes.”
― Dipti Dhakul

“A river is a feeling more than a sound. It makes an animal of you, is what I’m saying: you become the constituent parts, no more, no less. Some people may find relief in that but not me.”
― Krystelle Bamford, Idle Grounds

“In walking the streets of Mexico City you are immersed in a symphony of sounds. From the recordings of the tamale vendors to the whistles of knife sharpeners, the camote vendor with his oven that sounds like a train, the melodies of organilleros, the sounds of birds and church bells that fill the morning air – each note adds to the beautiful chaos of the city.”
― Aleph Molinari, Mexico City - Assouline

“...Mandarin sounds like someone chewing a brandy glass full of wasps and Cantonese sounds like people having an argument. The written language of both dialects, incidentally, is the same.”
― John Lanchester, Fragrant Harbor

“A daily appointment with mother nature keeps one from booking an appointment with the doctor.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, These Words Burn Like Fire

“Nature speaks in sounds, and echoes in colours. Sounds embedded through the centuries. And colours, radiant and evergreen.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, These Words Burn Like Fire

“Here’s another lesson

from pain

From a power line, a robin sings
after the rain

chl dee chdl
chl dee chdl

goes the streak of sound, insistent
as a rusty hinge

It's the same

Then longing”
― Ailish Hopper, Dark~Sky Society

“Is there a star more wide open
than the word poppy?

Are there two fangs sharper
than the syllables of jackal?”
― Pablo Neruda, The Book of Questions

“[Sounds]

Few are the sounds
that deepen silence
or make it more eloquent.
There are sounds
without which silence
would not be complete:
the ticking of a clock,
the sudden hum
of a refrigerator coming to life,
the chirp of a cricket,
the rasp of a cicada,
or perhaps
the croaking of a frog.
And there are sounds
that make existence itself
more strange,
more lonely:
the sudden thud
of an insect striking
a door
or a window,
as though
it had chosen
to end its life.
Like the groan
of a rusted door
we close behind
someone dear
as they leave,
certain
they will never return,
certain
that nothing will remain
quite the same
after their departure.
There is the whistle
of a kettle,
like an alarm siren
warning us
that peace
and stillness
are only fleeting illusions.
And there are sounds
that contain
the tragedies of the past,
sounds from which
the listener's memory
never fully recovers:
the cries of a woman
weeping and screaming
as her husband beats her
in the neighboring house;
or the cough
of an elderly woman
we visited with our families
in childhood,
spitting,
sighing,
again and again.
And how could we forget
the whistle
of a ship
or a train,
announcing
that there is no escape
from departure.

15 September 2023”
― Louis Yako, سرطان في كل مكان [Cancer Everywhere]